Observations Suggest Chimpanzee Urination Behavior Can Be Influenced by Others

The Contagious Nature of Chimpanzee Urination

Chimpanzees have a unique social solution to the age-old problem of waiting in line for the bathroom: they pee all at once. A new study has found that peeing is contagious in chimpanzees, making it the first study to investigate this phenomenon in animals.

The Study’s Findings

Researchers from Kyoto University spent over 600 hours observing a group of 20 captive chimpanzees living in a wildlife sanctuary. They observed the chimps pee more than 1,300 times and found that they were likely to pee together. If a chimp was near an individual that was urinating, it too was more likely to start peeing.

A Role for Rank

The researchers also found that rank played a role in this contagious behavior. Low-ranking individuals were more likely than others to start peeing if a chimp nearby did. This suggests that high-ranking individuals may influence the urination of others or that low-ranking chimps are more likely to notice and respond to the behaviors of others.

Implications for Further Research

The study’s findings have implications for further research into the contagious nature of chimpanzee behavior. Zanna Clay, a psychologist at Durham University, notes that “it’s a promising and preliminary step” but that further investigation is needed to understand the significance of this phenomenon.

Future Directions

Onishi and her colleagues plan to study other groups of chimpanzees, including wild chimps, to see how social factors like sex, familiarity, and age might influence contagious urination. They also hope to expand comparisons across species by studying bonobos, which could provide intriguing insights when compared to their findings in chimpanzees.

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